Humza Yousaf said he’s “not ashamed at all” to admit his mental health suffered in the wake of his resignation as Scottish first minister.
The former leader of the SNP said in a post on social media that it’s “okay not to be okay” and “the last few weeks have been really difficult”.
Announcing he was embarking on the Couch To 5k challenge to improve his physical and mental health, he said in a video: “Politicians are of course notoriously bad for practising what they preach. And one thing we often try to encourage other people to do is to get physically active.
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“It’s good for you, of course, physically, but also really good for your mental health.
“And I have to say, certainly in the last year, probably, frankly, for the last 12 years when I have been a minister, I’ve not been particularly physically active and certainly in the last 13 months probably at my most unfit. So here’s an opportunity for me to get physically fit again.”
He said he was doing this to help not just with his physical health but also “to help with my mental health”.
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Mr Yousaf added: “I’m not ashamed at all to say that the last couple of weeks, the last few weeks have been really difficult for my mental health, and I’ll take steps to try to improve my mental health as best I can over the coming days, weeks, and months.
“One of the ways to do that is undoubtedly to try to get physically fit. So I put this video out to say Pray for Humza because it’s been a long time since I’ve attempted any running or physical activity like this in quite some time.”
Mr Yousaf was forced to step down at the end of April after terminating the Bute House Agreement with the Scottish Greens.
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It followed a bitter row over the SNP’s climbdown on climate targets with Mr Yousaf saying the arrangement, designed to facilitate governing between the two pro-independence parties in Holyrood, had “served its purpose”.
But the move left him facing motions of no confidence from his political opponents and he ultimately conceded that he had “underestimated the level of hurt and upset” his actions had caused.
His decision to quit came after just 13 months in the top job, following the surprise resignation of Nicola Sturgeon last February.
He has been replaced by former deputy first minister John Swinney, who won the leadership race unopposed and was formally sworn in this week.
